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Atlantic Council ISIS War Game Reflects Real World Policy

“Goldilocks plus”—not too hot, not too cold—was the way retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright described the approach of the United States is using in confronting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS or ISIL) in a war game set up by the Atlantic Council.

It is very similar to the approach the Obama administration is using.

Speaking Thursday at the council’s Washington offices, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs said the United States and its allies in the region and in Europe need to understand that “this is generational warfare” and “ISIS is but one player” in the long-term struggle.

The scenario presented to the war-game players was this: Suppose the Islamic State successfully took Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad and was able to carry out a successful attack on an encampment where American casualties were high, but fewer than 100.